Film industry spends staggering $2 billion in GA in single year

[Newsboy]

SOME ATLANTA FILM NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED ...

Tom Holland, the new Spider-man, filming in Fayette at Pinewood Atlanta Studios, took time this week to visit Children's Healthcare of Atlanta - Egleston... In his official Spider-Man costume!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJTy9OrDKAg/

"Captain America: Civil War" -- shot on a budget of $250 million at Pinewood Studios last summer -- continues to set all kinds of box office records 3 months after its May release in the United States (when it earned $1 billion worldwide in just 24 days!) As of Friday (8.19.16) it had made $179 BILLION and is now the 12th all-time highest grossing film worldwide and the 20th highest grossing film domestically. It ranks 8th for highest opening day AND single day gross, 5th for highest Saturday gross, 10th for biggest summer movie of all time, and 5th biggest May opening of all time!

‘Captain America: Civil War’ Biggest Movie of 2016 Worldwide | Variety

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=marvel2016.htm

"Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn penned a "love letter" to Atlanta on his Facebook page after filming at Pinewood wrapped back in June:

Thanks much for all of your smiles and friendliness. You're just flat-out wonderful people to be around, and one of the true, great cosmopolitan cities ... The other thing I do for fun is eat. And I would be remiss without mentioning what I consider Atlanta's finest attribute: the amazing food. He went on the praise Oxford Comics, the zoo, the aquarium and Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary down in Locust Grove! And he had special thanks for South Atlanta Emergency Animal Hospital in Fayetteville for "saving the lives" of his dogs on 2 different occasions!

Director James Gunn thanks Atlanta in open letter | 11alive.com

And this fall, Fayette County will be home to the largest superhero movie in history: Avengers Infinity War!
"Guardians" director Anthony Russo and the Marvel squad will be back for "The Avengers: Infinity War," which starts filming this November. Producer Mitch Bell Bell says Pinewood's facilities are "as good or better" as anywhere he's filmed. "It's just a top shelf studio."

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/n...e-out-for.html

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by MikeHonchoATL

I certainly understand the economics behind these tax breaks.

Georgia better be prepared to keep them on forever and to even up them because what happens when somewhere else offers more?

If this were billions of dollars going to Wal-Mart, Exxon-Mobil or whoever the 'big evil corporate meanie' of the week is, y'all would be foaming at the mouth angry. It is the same thing.

Massive difference. First of all companies like Wal-Mart already mooch off of the public by paying so little that almost all of their employees require welfare to survive. Secondly, when a new Wal-Mart opens, it rarely spawns new development, creation of new businesses, nor the creation of external jobs. Exxon doesn't really spawn much either. And Wal-Mart usually kills other companies and jobs when it moves in, because others can't compete.

On the other hand, the film industry pays very well and provides excellent benefits to its employees, directly enabling thousands of Georgians to afford a whole new quality of life. It also creates dozens, even hundreds, of peripheral businesses, like lighting suppliers, grip houses, camera rental shops, studio spaces, catering companies, transportation companies, craft services companies, etc. And all of those companies employ people as well.

And there aren't billions of dollars going to these companies. They are just saving less than billions. That's like saying when you buy a TV on sale, that the seller gave you money.

Of all the industries to choose to support, the entertainment would've been pretty far down my list, but I guess that fits in well with Georgia's poor education rates.

Care to elaborate on that statement?

What other industry has done anything remotely comparable to this state?

PS: You can save the "I know somebody" examples. If that is your point, that just screams of bias and an inability to take the 1,000 ft view of the situation. "But but but Connor and Tryone have jobs making lots of money and they didn't 10 years ago..." <Yawn>

Give me the 1,000 foot view. Would you rather have all those people not making lots of money? Is the state actually losing money, or is it making money?

And I didn't say "I know somebody". I said "I know lots of people". People are flocking here because of the work available and the money they can make. I'm not a top player by any means, and didn't even work for the first two months of last year, and still made well into six figures last year. How could you not want that for this state's citizens?

[Newsboy]

Georgia's tax incentives for the entertainment industry is a far better deal and bigger return on investment than the BILLIONS in subsidies paid to lure the auto industry down South. South Carolina alone gave Boeing more than $1 billion to locate in Charleston!

And Georgia is in much better shape fiscally than most every other state that's gone down this path.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Georgia's tax incentives for the entertainment industry is a far better deal and bigger return on investment than the BILLIONS in subsidies paid to lure the auto industry down South. South Carolina alone gave Boeing more than $1 billion to locate in Charleston!

And Georgia is in much better shape fiscally than most every other state that's gone down this path.

Yeah, again, whether tax incentives work very much depends on the industry.